MRM uses centers of excellence to share best practices

MRM, the direct and digital agency of McCann Worldgroup, New York, has honed its “center of excellence” model globally to provide its clients with leading-edge digital, database and relationship marketing capabilities.
The agency's b-to-b COE is in Salt Lake City, and it also has a data and analytics COE in Hong Kong, a digital production COE in Buenos Aires, and a healthcare COE in Princeton, N.J.
“Building out these centers has allowed us to share best practices and deliver world-class work quickly and efficiently on behalf of our clients,” said Michael McLaren, president of MRM, New York.
Last year, MRM picked up new b-to-b assignments from AOL Inc. and Google Inc., and it expanded work with existing clients Computer Sciences Corp., Intel Corp., Mastercard Inc.? and Verizon Communications.
For Intel, the agency created an online game called IT Manager: Duels with the objectives of educating IT buyers about Intel products and increasing awareness and purchase preference. The game was promoted via email, online ads targeting IT managers and social media. In addition, local leagues were set up where players could win prizes and showcase their skills.
“IT managers were presented with a series of technical challenges, and needed to use strategy to get to the next level,” McLaren said.
In the game, IT managers used Intel products to build their IT organizations; they could also create problems for opponents, such as flooding their server rooms or infecting their system with a virus.
As a result of the game, Intel received a lift in its perception as a relevant enterprise solutions provider.
MRM launched an integrated marketing campaign for Verizon Enterprise Solutions called “Powerful Answers,” designed to show how the company provides enterprise-level engagement to help solve business challenges.
“We wanted the enterprise customer to look at Verizon through the lens of being a true thought leader in the enterprise space,” McLaren said.
To achieve that, MRM created an integrated campaign using rich-media advertising, webinars, website content, social media and a mobile app to showcase how Verizon helps its enterprise customers solve problems.